Playboy Murder
by Pagan Besu
Summary: A new CSI is put on a case to solve a young woman's murder, but with the vic's family being one big list of suspects, will she be able to solve it in time? BIG EDIT! Chapter 4-6 up!
1. Chapter 1

I down own CSI. If I did, this wouldn't' be on a fan fiction site, it would be on tv...

The night was about as calm as any night could be in Vegas. Nothing could be done about all the late-night gamblers, but tonight they seemed to be at a relative minimum. The sky was crystal clear, and if not for the gallons of the light pollution of countless neon casino signs and lamps killing nature's natural light, it would have given in to a diamond-encrusted blanket above the heavens. In truth, the only illumination from Mother Nature was the full moon, shining like it's own neon sign and practically daring everything else to outshine it. But try as they might, they just couldn't surpass the moon's god-like shine.

Though it was still late, (nearing midnight) it was still at an hour where Vegas tourists found it to be too early to sleep. At least for gamblers and the night owls, they found it to be too early to rest.

But that's just how it is in Vegas. For some people it's just never late enough, and they figure 'what could one more hour hurt'? Then before they know it, morning has risen and the next day has arrived.

Then we have Vegas lovers who, though they too like to stay up late drinking and having a good time with their partners, at least manage to find time to go to bed. Though, what they do between getting in to bed and actually sleeping is a mystery even the #2 crime lab in America would need…or even want…to solve.

Of course, we can't forget the intensely libido-driven 'let's have sex wherever and whenever we feel the urge' lovers. The ones that find unoccupied, dark places to get as freaky as their heart's desire, like the young couple who snuck their way into an empty playground with sex being the one and only things on their minds.

The two quickly sprinted across the park, through the darkness, until hey reached a bench that would typically be used by adults watching their children frolic through the park. Tonight however, it would be used in a different way. They began lip locking before they even managed to sit themselves down.

When they finally pulled away for some air, the brunette woman giggled quietly in her boyfriend's ear. She whispered something dirty to him, like there was anyone nearby who could've heard her.

It was just one of those quiet setting where you feel obligated to whisper.

He grinned back at her and began kissing her neck; trying to set an already heightened mood while gently letting his hands explore her thin, curvaceous body.

The mood was set, the lighting was perfect, and there wasn't a soul nearby to ruin the moment. The only thing missing was romantic music, but neither of them was complaining.

Still, something must've been wrong in the woman's perspective, since she slowly pulled her lover's hands away and held them still for a while. She could've sworn she had seen…

"Wait…Derek, hold on a moment…" she said quietly to him, eyes fixed on something at a small distance behind him. She paused a moment, not moving or saying anything to make sure she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing, and not a paranoid hallucination. "Baby…I think someone's here with us." She tilted her whole body to the left as she spoke up again to get a better view as Derek turned to get a good look for himself.

Over on the swing set, silhouetted by the neon lights and full moon, was what looked to be a woman sitting limply on the swing, her head leaning against one of the metal chains holding the swing up.

The couple rose from the bench and began to slowly approach the woman. Upon closer inspection she seemed to be asleep, with her smooth, wavy hair covering most of her gentle-looking face and her eyes--though closed and mostly shielded by hair--were framed by wire, oval shaped glasses. Her hands where placed neatly on her lap, and she seemed to be having a nice, peaceful sleep. Still, there was a strange aura surrounding her…something was amiss.

"Is she homeless?" The brunette asked walking behind Derek and peering over his shoulder every once in a while. "She must be…it's a strange place for a person to be sleeping here otherwise…"

Once they reached a few feet from the figure at the swings, Derek paused a moment to observe her before reaching out to touch her shoulder and gently shake her awake. But instead of what he thought would happen, she ended up falling on her back right off the swings and lay completely still.

Derek's eyes suddenly widened upon getting a better look at her face and, without looking away, yelled to his girlfriend, "Shit! Melissa! Call the 911!" He looked pale, and his voice shook as he spoke.

But instead of following her lover's demands right away, Melissa found herself peeking over Derek's shoulder again, both curious and concerned. She then let out an ear-piercing, terror-filled scream.

That 'sleeping woman' had a bloody bullet hole in the middle of her forehead.

There truly wasn't another soul in the park that night…

Just a corpse.

Gil Grissom paced back and fourth a bit in the busy parking lot where several police cars, and an ambulance was parked. The playground where children would usually have a fun time was closed off, since it was now a crime scene.

The man had a handsome, constantly serious face that went along with his dry sense of humor, and a scruffy beard that covered a small bit of his face. His outfit consisted of a black jacket and pants, with a blue t-shirt under his jacket.

Dead body. Found by a couple of hormone-crazy teenagers on their night of attempted passion. For what he had gathered from interviewing the couple, the cause of death seemed to be a single bullet to the head.

The crime scene was currently untouched and unobserved by the CSI supervisor's eyes. His partner on the case, a woman who had moved to the fieldwork when her sister replaced her in the lab, had yet to arrive to the scene and he was waiting for her before processing. It was her first case and he didn't want her to miss out on her first day out in the field but since it would be nearing sunrise, and going to be another hot day, he needed to get to the crime scene and body before the elements did. If she didn't arrive soon he was going to have to end up starting without her, and the last thing he wanted was to get a new recruit starting partway on their first case.

He turned around as he heard a car pull up in the parking lot somewhere behind him. It was Jim Brass' car, parking next to a police vehicle. After shutting the car down, the cop got out of his vehicle, along with a woman coming out of the passenger's side. She brushed some of her hair behind an ear and, upon spotting Grissom, smiled and walked quickly over to him.

Beth Aror stood at about 5'6" with slightly messy dark blonde to light brown hair that reached about an inch or so below her shoulders. Her hazel eyes were framed by purple plastic framed glasses that hung loosely on her face, forcing the woman to constantly push them up to the bridge of her nose. She was wearing a navy blue jacket over a white tank top with a matching blue knee-long skirt and black boots, and as she approached her boss, she adjusted her ID badge clipped the left breast pocket on her jacket.

With a wide, eager smile she stood tall and proud. "Best day of my life, boss! My sister gets admitted to the lab and I get out on the field! Greg's probably pretty jealous..." her smile faded, "But um...sorry I'm late."

Grissom grinned a bit, and then nodded towards the park. "You missed questioning the couple that found the body, but the crime scene is waiting for us to get started. It's our playground now."

Beth flashed another smile at Grissom while holding her evidence case with both her hands. "Can't wait." She said as she and her supervisor made their way to the crime scene. Even with the grim atmosphere of murder, she just couldn't help but feel excited about her first day at fieldwork.

"Do we have an ID on her?" Beth asked as the two approached the body sprawled on the ground by the swing set.

"Not yet," Grissom answered, "no wallet or anything on her." He crouched by the body as Beth remained standing, observing the scene from a standing point of view. "The couple that found her said she was sitting on the swings when they found her. They thought she was sleeping, so they tried to wake her up, but..."

"She wasn't asleep." Beth finished, and made a quick motion with her hands. Grissom raised an eyebrow at her with interest.

"Did you just do what I think you just did?" He asked her while pausing a moment as he was about to put on a pair of latex gloves.

Looking at her hands Beth said, "Hm...? Oh yeah..." she smiled at herself, "I took a few American Sign Language classes in High school. Loved it so much...and sometimes I sign what I'm thinking with out realizing it. It even happens when I'm talking." She explained, realizing that she had earlier made the sign for 'dead'. "How'd you know what I did?"

Grissom explained to her, "My mother was deaf. I learned sign language from her." He signed this sentence, as well as spoke it to her.

The two exchanged grins, then went back to observe the dead body.

The woman looked to be in her late twenties, with wavy teal hair. She was tall, probably about 5'11" at least, and was clothed in a dark pink dress and high heeled shoes of a similar, if not darker shade. Her appearance was very gentle and delicate, with soft features all over her face. A very attractive woman, curvy and quite appealing, Beth caught herself wondering if this was one of those 'everybody loved her' victims. She definitely looked that way, at least.

Still, as is the case with every murder, someone must've not liked her that much according to the through and through bullet wound on her face.

"Hey, Grissom? I think this was a dump site." Beth pointed out. "There's not nearly enough blood here for it to be the major crime scene." Except for the bullet wound, there was no blood at all to be found here.

Grissom nodded, pulling out his tweezers and taking a few samples of hair on the victim's clothes. He found at least three different hairs, and bagged each one separately. He also took a sample of fibers in the woman's hair as well.

The two remained quiet, and Beth took the opportunity to see if she could find anything else in the entire park that might help. She found several toys lying around, nothing out of the ordinary there. There were paper cups scattered by several trashcans but again, that didn't prove much of anything except that people liked to visit this location.

With a heavy sigh, she returned to the swing set. The sun was starting to rise, and in the light, Beth caught a glimmer of something in the sand under the other swing. After some digging she found that the glimmer was glass, a beer bottle. There was the strong possibility that it was just garbage, nothing useful to the case, but it was Beth's gut that told her to bag it. Perhaps there was something useful to be found from it.

After he was satisfied with the evidence collected, Grissom stood up and brushed sand off of his pants. "I think we have everything we need at this point, don't you? I'll get the coroners to collect the body and we can continue on the next shift tonight."

For a moment, Beth went quiet while observing the ground for anything she might've missed...like the footprints leading away from the body.


	2. Chapter 2

Al Robbins was the graveyard shift's reliable secret weapon when it came to corpses. Often times, he would discover valuable information of the victim simply by deducting how a victim died, or at what time, or even what a last meal happened to be. In this case, however, he didn't have much that the CSI's didn't already know. Not surprising, since the new graveyard shift just started half an hour ago.

"Cause of death was obvious, bullet to the head," he explained as he led Grissom and Beth over to the silver tray that held the victim. "I lifted a set of prints to the lab, maybe AFIS can identify her. She died around Eight o'clock last night..."

Beth observed the woman's face, getting her fist good look at her, and realized how familiar she seemed. Though 'stared' was probably a better term than 'observed', since she was indeed staring. She could've sword she had seem this woman somewhere before.

The sound of Grissom's cell phone quickly jolted her back to earth, and she looked over at him as he pulled it out of his pocket.

"Grissom." He greeted the caller. There was a pause as the person on the other line spoke. "We'll be right there." He said, then hung up. "Brass says that we might have an ID on our Jane Doe. Someone just arrived to report his wife missing, she matches the vic's description."

Beth could feel a tight pull in her stomach. Crime solving, murder cases, those were no problem for her, but when it came down to dealing with a diseased loved ones...she wasn't sure if she'd be able to deal with that. "I really hope she's not who he's looking for."

"Well, if she's not, there's still another family who we'll have to approach eventually." Grissom pointed out.

"Damnit...yeah"

"Besides, we're not here to hope, we're here to catch the bad guy." He explained to her.

Beth gave her boss a weak smile, then nodded and the two headed to the front of the building to meet up with the husband.

Myo Wasserdrache was a sophisticated-looking (if not slightly girly) man. Standing at about six feet, he kept his long, blonde hair tied back with a red ribbon. He was of German origin, which was made apparent by his obvious, but not terribly strong accent.

"She told me that she would be out with her sister...and that she'd be home by eight-thirty, nine at the latest." He explained.

Beth shifted uncomfortably for a few moments, then asked," has she ever been late before?"

Myo shook his head. "No, she's always very punctual. Either she's on time or early." Here, he smiled sadly, almost as if expecting the worst. "I love her...and she's always striving to be perfect for me. She wants to be the perfect wife."

"Can you tell us her name?"

"Cherryl"

"And can you tell us what she looked like?

Myo gave Beth a look, "I already told that officer..Brass I think his name vas."

"We know, but could you tell us?"

Beth and Grissom both knew what was coming, Myo described their victim perfectly. With a tightness in her throat, she told him that they may already have found her wife, and asked him to follow her back to the coroner's room.

Myo stared for a few moments. "Wait...y-you mean she's dead!"

"We don't know if it's her or not." Grissom explained, "That's why we need you to come with us to be sure. But we did recently find a murder victim that fits your wife's description very well."

"Murder! As in someone killed her! What sick bastard would do that to my wife!"

"Well, it's like my supervisor said," Beth said, trying to explain calmly, "It's not a sure thing that it's her, not until we identify her. Do you think you might be up for it?"

Myo seemed to be in complete shock, but he managed a nod and followed Grissom and Beth back to Doc Robbins.

Myo took a deep breath as Robbins removed the white cloth from the victim's face and stared hopelessly at the dead woman before him. He said nothing, but when asked if this was his wife, he simply nodded.

Beth felt the little bit of hope she had for this man slip away, then asked if he knew of anyone who would want her dead.

"I can't imagine...she vas very friendly. It's true that she would get on some people's nerves, but I can't think of anyone who would want to kill her." He answered, eyes welling up with tears.

Beth held back her comment on how someone obviously wanted to kill her, since here she was. However, she did seem to be relatively close about thinking that she was 'loved by all'.

"Sir, if you could wait outside for a moment, my partner and I need to discuss something, then we'll need to ask you a few questions." Grissom said.

Myo looked up at him and nodded slowly. He hadn't started crying yet, but he was damn near close at this point. "Questions...right..." he said in a distracted tone, then looked back at his wife. "As long as it'll catch whoever did this..."

"Rest assured Myo, we'll catch this murderer." Beth said and watched as Myo gave another nod, then slowly walked out to the halls.

Grissom sighed, "So according to the husband, and the time of death, she was killed when she was supposedly spending time with her sister."

Robbins nodded, "I actually also found bruises all over her body suggesting she was roughed up a bit before being killed."

Beth spoke without looking away from the corpse. She just couldn't shake a familiar feeling of this woman off. "So...you're saying what, exactly? That she was beaten, then shot in the head? Don't people like that usually have terror stricken look on their faces? When we found Cherryl, she looked very calm."

"It's possible that she could have been drugged." Grissom said, then he and his partner looked expectantly at Robbins.

He gave the two a thoughtful look. "I considered that...but I haven't gotten the results from the blood test yet so it's a possibility."

"Well, we have two things to take care of now," Grissom said, "talk to the husband and get the evidence we found to Greg for analysis."

"And my sister." Beth pointed out.

"Beth, why have you been staring at the victim ever since we got here?" Grissom asked suddenly.

None of them even looked over as Nick Stokes, another CSI working on his own case with two others, made his way into the room.

Beth shrugged, "I just think I've seen her before. Like, maybe in passing or friendly conversation once. She just looks so familiar."

Nick walked over to Doc Robbins and as he passed the silver tray where Cherryl lay, he stared in shock. "Hey Gris...are you aware that your vic is a Playboy model?"

"That's it! That's why she's so famil...iar" Beth exclaimed, then paused between her last sentence as everyone in the room (living anyway) stared at her. There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence before Beth said meekly, "Well, it's not like I actually read the magazine..." And while she left to speak with Myo again, she muttered, "I only look at the pictures..."


	3. Chapter 3

The interrogation room was a cold environment, but a perfect place for questioning potential suspects, or even people who were willing to be questioned while at the station. Jim Brass stood at a corner of the table next to where Beth sat, and Myo was seated in a chair across the table from the both of them. Their fellow CSI Catherine Willows agreed to watch over Myo's children (whom he brought with him, but it was newer mentioned up until this point, cause they were with Cath the whole time...) while the questioning commenced. Grissom had gone to the lab to give the evidence collected so far to Greg and upon his return, would be watching from the other room, behind a two-way mirror.

"I can only imagine what you're going through mister...um...Myo." Beth said gently, then went quiet when Myo gave her a pained look.

"Don't call me that"

"What?"

"Mister...'Mister Myo'...Cherryl used to call me that constantly when we first were going out. When we first met, actually." He explained to her, tears beginning to slowly fall.

Beth really didn't want to continue this interrogation until Myo had calmed down a bit. He did just find out he lost his wife, but she knew damn well that waiting would take too long. With a heavy sigh, she asked, "Did you two ewer argue with each other?"

An utterly surprised look was tossed at Beth, then Myo quickly answered, "Newer."

"Forgive me for being skeptical, but it's rare for someone to say they have a perfect married life and end up telling the truth."

Myo laughed once-a quiet, deeply saddened laugh-and shook his head. "Who said anything about our married life being perfect? I said we newer fought, but no one's married life is anywhere near perfect."

Beth smirked a bit, "Touché." Her face went serious again. "But are you honestly telling me that you newer once lost your temper with your wife? That could lead up to a lot of built up tension..."

Brass quickly picked up on this, "...and you could've lost big time with her." Then he paused as he and Beth looked at each other as they realized they were running on guesswork.

Grissom's #1 rule for CSIs: No guesswork!

Their thoughts were suddenly brought back to Myo, as the man pounded a fist against the cold, metal table in front of him.

"Are you suggesting that I did this to my wife! The woman I gave my heart and SOUL to! I vas at home watching the children while she vas supposedly out having fun with her sister!" He said rather loudly. "I love Cherryl!"

Beth winced, then put her hands in front of her, palms facing Myo, "I'm sorry, really. I didn't mean to jump to a conclusion like that. I didn't mean to offend you, but if we're going to find out who did this to your wife, we're gonna need to look at this from every angle."

"Well then, if we're finished here. I suggest you try and find some proof before you go accusing me again. It's Cyndie you should be questioning. You know, the last von with my wife?" My sad sharply, then left after Brass nodded and okay to him.

Beth sighed quietly, pushing her glasses to the bridge of her nose. "Damnit…" she muttered, "I can't believe I just did that...we didn't have any proof, and he might not even cooperate with us anymore because of that assumption."

Brass gave her a grin and a pat on the shoulder. "Happens to al of us. You're new, so you get off easy this time though." He told her. "So, what have we actually got so far?"

"One badly beaten corpse, an extremely pissed off husband, a beer bottle that might not even be useful, and a few stray hairs. Not to mention a shoe print that might be as useful as the beer bottle." With another sigh, much heavier than the last one, she took a few seconds to think of what to do next and didn't even notice when Grissom walked in.

"We've identified the shoe print. A size 8 motorcycle boot, though it still doesn't tell us much without something to compare it to." The supervisor said, making Beth jump a bit with surprise.

"And the hairs and bottle?" Brass asked.

"Greg's still analyzing them. We found a set of partial fingerprints on the bottle, but we haven't found much else."

"Well, with what we've got so far, we should probably go find the sister. If nothing else, than to let her know what's happened." Beth said, but as Brass and Grissom mowed to leave the room, she hesitated and kept herself seated. She wasn't sure if she was really looking forward to socializing with another lowed one of the victim. It was hard enough the first time.

Suddenly she found herself thinking about going back to the lab, but realized that since her sister had taken her slot, there really wasn't any room for her to go back. Besides, she wanted a chance to partner up with that cute CSI on the nightshift...

Maybe Grissom would let her finish this case with Sara Sidle later. It was worth a shot.

Getting up from her chair finally, she realized that it wouldn't be so bad. Her emotional sensitivity may be getting in the way now, but she could get used to it eventually, right? Besides, it was her own choice to become a field CSI.

"I'll find the address to where she's living and see what else I can find out about her in the meantime." Brass said.

'Well, no turning back now,' she thought to herself as she, Grissom, and Brass headed off to the McTavish home.


	4. Chapter 4

An interview with Cyndie and Daniel...and just for those who havent heard the song, _Animals_is a very um...dirty song. It's our of character for Cyndie to be listening to is, but I guess I can't say much for Daniel, since he's not relly mine and I don't completely know how his mind works...

-------------------------------------------

The victim's sister, Cyndie apparently lived in a cozy home by the strip with her fiancé Daniel. According to the information Brass had dug up on her, she had lived on her own in a one bedroom apartment for a while, then money problems started rolling in and one thing led to another and she found herself homeless. Days later, she moved in with Daniel and the two of them had been sharing this nice little home ever since.

Beth couldn't help but get the feeling that this woman had quite a checkered past behind her, and wondered if it had all blown over by now...

Grissom and Beth rode in one car with the supervisor behind the wheel, and Brass followed behind them in his Taurus. During the entire ride, the car was filled with an awkward silence, fueled mostly by Beth's embarrassment on the whole Playboy incident earlier. She sat in the passenger seat, arms crossed over her upper abdominal area with feet flat on the car floor, and staring at the dashboard with an empty gaze.

The car stopped at the front of the well-kept lawn that rested in front of the McTavish house. Grissom turned to ask Beth if she was ready, but said nothing when he noticed her detached position.

"You act like some terrible secret's been revealed." He said to her in a gentle yet almost teasing manner.

"You know, people get fired when and if they come out of the closet in their workplace." Beth said in a low tone. "This isn't my last case, is it boss?"  
Grissom simply shook his head.

"Are you firing me now? Before I get to finish the case?"

Another head shake.

Beth gave a small smile to her supervisor. "But...I'm-"

"Homophobia does exist in this world, unfortunately." He told her with a small shrug. "But we have more important things to worry about in this profession than sexuality of a person. I didn't hire you because I thought you were straight, I hired you because you have the skills required-and then some-to be a good, hardworking CSI."  
Beth's smile widened. "You know, being a person who wants nothing more than acceptance (and love), that means a lot to me." She told him, practically beaming now. "Okay, let's solve this murder."

The two got out of the car and took a look at the front of the house. Instead of a cement path leading to the front steps, as is the case in most houses, there were several neatly placed stepping-stones. Smooth patches of gray stood out in the lush green grass and seemed all so inviting to visitors. Also scattered on the lawn were various toys suited for young children, maybe kids that had yet to reach their double digits?

Brass got out of his Taurus and met the two CSIs at the start of the stepping stone pathway. "Do you think the vic's husband already called in ahead to let them know what's happened?"

"Can't tell," Beth answered, looking at the house. It was nearing 10 PM, and through the darkness, only one window in the house seemed to be glowing with light. Looks like most of the house is asleep. If they knew by now, I doubt they'd be trying to get some shuteye."  
As the trio approached the house, they could hear music faintly playing in the room with the light (a few windows to the left of the front door), and Beth took a few moments to try to recognize the tune.

"Nickelback's ' _Animals _?' " She asked, sort of thinking out loud. "They probably _don't _know what's happened yet." Grissom looked over at her in question, but decided it was probably best not to ask.

Brass reached over and pressed the doorbell, and they waited as the sound of visitors traveled through he almost empty house. After a few seconds, the music stopped, and he pressed the doorbell again, just to be sure.

A couple of minutes passed, and the door slowly opened a crack. A single dark violet eye peered at the late night visitors before the door opened fully.

They were met with a woman who seemed to be the victim's sister-twin sister, in fact. She stood before everyone in a dark red bathrobe and bare feet. She had the same eyes (without the need for glasses), height, and hair color (shorter and, though naturally a bit messier, it was now more so than usual).  
She paused a moment, leaning to the side and her left hand supporting her weight on the doorframe. "This had better be good," she said harshly. "My fiancé and I are...busy." She smirked, "Or rather...getting busy."

Beth grimaced at her comment as Grissom spoke out, "Miss, I'm Gill Grissom this is my partner Beth Aror and our associate Jim Brass." He explained to her. "May we have a word with you? Are you Cyndie?"

The woman nodded, then her eyes widened. "You're not the police, are you?"

Brass is an officer, my partner and I are Criminalists."

Cyndie looked worried, then turned inside the house. "Daniel! What the hell did you do this time?!"

Beth exchanged curious looks with Grissom. "Ma'am, has your husband ever been in trouble with the police before."

Cyndie turned back to the three; a small laugh escaped her lips. "We're not married just yet, Mr. Brass...and honestly, I don't know when we ever will be. But yes, he was arrested once for murder. The charges were dropped, though...since he did it to defend me. The man he killed raped me, and was planning to kill me. Probably would've succeeded too, if it weren't for Daniel"

Beth gave Cyndie a sympathetic look.

"Don't worry about it." She told her. "It's all in the past now. The guy can't bother me anymore, and Daniel treats Daichi like he was his own son." It didn't take much for the others to realize who Daichi's real father was.

Shaking her head, as if to start the conversation over, she asked, "Is there a reason why-" she stopped mid sentence, as somewhere within the house a phone rang.

"I'll get it!" A man's voice called out.

Cyndie smiled a bit, then said to Brass and the others, "Interruptions, interruptions...Now, why are there two criminalists and a cop on my front steps at ten at night?"

Beth stepped forward a bit. "Um...miss Cyndie. When was the last time you spoke with your sister."

The woman raised an eyebrow, wondering where this was leading. "Cherryl? I haven't seen her physically in two days, but we talked on the phone yesterday morning about plans for last night...oh shit"

There was a heavy 'clunk' within the house, like Daniel had forcefully hung up the phone.

Cyndie hardly even noticed the sound and kept her eyes glued on Grissom. "Oh, Hell...I just thought that something had come up at home. Did something happen to her? Please tell me she's okay!"

Beth paused, then slowly shook her head. "She was...murdered last night. Shot in the head."

"Sh-shit!"

"Cyndie?"

A man appeared behind Cyndie from inside the house. Her fiancé, Daniel was a tall handsome man with reddish orange hair and a rugged five o clock shadow. Clothed only in a pair of dark pajama pants, he reached over and placed a hand on Cyndie's shoulder lightly. "That was...Myo on the phone."

"Cherryl's...shit...she's dead?" Cyndie asked, shaking her head. "No...it's not true...who the hell would do something like that to her?" The tears wasted no time in falling from her dark violet eyes. Putting a hand on her mouth, she let out a small sob.

Daniel hugged Cyndie from behind, and she quickly spun around and held him close, crying into his shoulder.

"Um...we were told that you were the last one with your sister around the time of her murder." Beth explained once Cyndie had calmed down a bit. "You two went out for a few hours."

Cyndie turned to the CSIs, still clinging to Daniel as he gently rubbed her back a bit. "We were supposed to, but she never showed up. I just figured that something had come up at home." Her eyes suddenly went wide again and she turned completely to face the others. With one had holding onto her fiancé's, she said, "Oh, Hell! I didn't...you think that _I _killed her?!"

"We're considering you to be a suspect. Did Cherryl ever call you to cancel the outing?" Beth asked, and when the woman shook her head, she questioned with, "and you didn't find that to be odd?"

Cyndie shook her head again. "No. I mean, we had plans once and she never showed up. I called her the next day and it turned out that her son Henri was sick and forgot to call me. I just figured something like that happened again."

The woman's eyes were becoming red and puffy with all the tears. If they didn't know any better, the criminalists could swear she was being legitimately upset.

Still, that didn't rule her out as a suspect.

Like Beth had heard Grissom mention once before: 'People lie, but the evidence never does. If for no other reason than to confirm this woman's innocence, they'd have to find some proof.

"May we come in?" Grissom asked politely.

Cyndie paused, looked at Daniel a moment, then slowly shook her head. "I'm sorry," she told them "I really do want to help you catch the sick person who did this, but you're going to have to need a warrant first. Questions I'll answer, but as long as there out here. I just lost my sister, and I need some time to cope. You understand."

"We do, but this is a murder investigations. Time is one thing we can't afford to waste." Grissom pointed out, "It would really help if you would cooperate."

The teal haired woman glared at Grissom. Her already harsh eyes, though softened by tears, now looked pretty close to satanic. "I don't give a damn about what is or isn't flexible for you. Cherryl and I were close as could be since we were children. Whoever did this deserves whatever punishment the law here requires, but I'm not in the right mood to have strangers poke through my house. Besides, how do I know that you won't try to plant evidence or frame me or my family?"

Beth slowly shook her head. "We wouldn't do that to innocent people." She said calmly to Cyndie. Though Conrad Ecklie and the day shift tended to be rather sloppy at times and too quick to accuse, the graveyard shift was a lot more thorough and fair. She explained as much (minus the Ecklie bashing) but she still earned resistance.

"No warrant, no entry." Cyndie said. "That's final."

Daniel, however, seemed skeptical of Cyndie's decision. When his wife-to-be exited back into the house, he apologized. "Much as I'd like to help, though, I'd rather not get on Cyndie's bad side." He said with a rather sheepish grin. "She can get scary when she's pissed off...scary, not homicidal." He finished quickly when he noticed the odd looks he was getting. "I know how she and Cherryl cared for each other. They were like best friends."

"Sir, do either you or your fiancé own a gun?" Beth asked.

Daniel's eye widened. "Is_that _how she was killed?

"Shot in the head. Sir, I thought Myo called you."

"He told me Cherryl was dead..." Daniel told her, shaking his head. "Broke down really quickly and didn't really go into the details." He sighed heavily. "Poor Cherryl...I can't believe it."

"Uh...Mr. McTavish, the gun?"

Daniel shrugged; the murder seemed to be getting to him at this point now too. "I don't own one...and as far as I know, neither does Cyndie. Look, I hope I've been helpful, but I need to go back inside..."

Beth nodded, then started to turn away, but stopped when she heard Daniel's voice again.

"I really hope you find who did this."

"So do we, sir. So do we."

Back at the lab, Greg Sanders was doing what he does best: Rockin' out to loud music while doing the other thing he does best, processing evidence. The young lab assistant was a wiz at comparing evidence, but from time to time he enjoyed goofing off when he could get away with it. Though most of the time Grissom would scold him for doing so, so he would rarely ever get away with it.

Ever since the park murder case started and Beth left the lab for the fieldwork, Greg had been spending his time getting to know the replacement girl over a 'steaming batch of DNA' as he called it. He got along with the early twenty-ish replacement quite well, and the two definitely had some-pardon the pun-chemistry together.  
Emily Aror was five years younger than her now fieldworking sister, but stood at least two or three inches taller. Her Dark brown hair was cut short to give her a tomboyish appearance, and the black Metallica Tee and baggy jeans didn't seem to give her a feminine appearance to her either.

She and Greg were sitting side by side looking over DNA results as Beth and Grissom walked in.

"Em, please tell me you found something." Beth said, the pleading remark obviously directed towards her sister, but answered by Greg.

"Actually, we did." He said with a smile. "The hairs. The only positive ID we got off of your victim was-"

"Ta-da! You're victims!" Emily said joyously.

"It's a shame to see a Playboy model get iced. I actually have a couple of issues with your victim in-"

"Greg, the results." Grissom all but demanded.

Greg smiled sheepishly. "Right. Although we only identified DNA of your vic, the other two hairs are similar. One male one female, so they were quite possibly relatives."

Beth looked over at Grissom, "Did our vic have a brother?"

"Not sure." Grissom replied. "But I'll get Brass...no, Sara on it. She's not working on any cases right now and I'm sure she'll be more than happy to help out."

Beth smiled. Sara wasn't the only one who'd be happy with her help.


	5. Chapter 5

In chapter 5, the CSIs interview Adam, the younger brother of the victim. And something SHOCKING is revealed! Yes! That's right! Beth LOVES soymilk!!

---------------------------

Beth exhaled a rather deep, heavy sigh, then removed her glasses and gently massaged the bridge of her nose with her free hand. She and Grissom had been in the break room for at least a half an hour, taking advantage of the time they had to relax. As soon as the two had returned to CSI headquarters, Sara had just recently found that Cherryl had an eighteen-year-old brother named Adam who lived nearby. With that information, she volunteered to call the boy up for an interview. In the meantime the CSI supervisor and newcomer were taking the time to relax.

"This case is just...messed up" Beth said quietly. "I mean, murder is one thing, but when the only suspects we have are direct family?" She walked over to the counter and poured her self a cup of coffee, "Anyone we've met so far, the sister, her fiancé, hell, it could even be the husband!" She paused a moment to add some sugar to her hot drink. "But I'll tell you right now, if it was the husband who beat and murdered his own wife-!"

"You have a weak spot for that kind of thing, don't you?" Grissom asked, purposefully cutting Beth off before she lost her temper.

Beth nodded, "I just don't understand it...evidence points to the family, but why would someone murder their own flesh and blood?"

"Human's are capable of doing terrible things to their own kind, even when the same blood runs through their veins." Grissom told her, and Beth wondered if he had made that up on his own, or quoted someone like he usually did. "Sara should be coming back soon to let us know about the brother's interrogation."

Beth smiled cutely at the mention of Sara, but she quickly tried to hide it. "She seems like a nice person." She said, then looked at her coffee a moment and asked, "hey, we got any soymilk around here?"

Grissom pointed a thumb to the employee fridge, "might be some in there..." He said, acting as if he hasn't seen the smile. "Sara tends to get worked up on cases like this, involving battered women. I think you two would do well on this case together."

"Or completely break down part way through it." Beth pointed out jokingly while pouring some soymilk into her cup. "But I admit, I like your suggestion." She told him, smiling again.

"What suggestion?" Sara had walked in the break room just in time, a memo in her hand.

Beth gave Grissom a sort of pleading look, and took several consecutive sips of her coffee, making it impossible for her to say anything at the moment.  
Grissom threw a quick look at Beth, then turned to Sara. "The suggestion that the two of you will continue on the case without me. I'm going to help out Nick and the others on their case."

Beth stopped sipping her beverage long enough to give her boss a thank you smile.

"Switching over? Grissom, you never do that?" Sara responded with disappointment. "Besides, if anyone, shouldn't Catherine be on the case? She works the cases with women who have...interesting pastimes." She suggested, her mouth forming a smirk that vanished so quickly, it could have been easily mistaken for a muscle twitch.

"Catherine's already on a case, Sara, and you're not." Grissom told her. "So I need you to take over for me."

Beth put her mug down on the counter and asked. "Sara, did you see about an interview with the brother, Adam?"

Sara kept her gaze on Grissom for a while. She wanted to argue that the new kid would probably need his help more than three level 3 CSIs would, but decided arguing with her boss would not be a smart move so she focused on her new partner. "Yes, but he refuses to come alone."

"A lawyer? Already?"

"He wanted to bring a friend."

Beth wondered why the boy would want to bring anyone else along, but decided she'd figure out soon enough. "No biggie, I guess. Who is it, a parent?"

Sara answered with a shrug. "I don't know who it is, but he's on his way over right now, so we'll find out eventually." "I...I just can't understand why anyone would want to hurt Cherryl, let alone _kill _her." Adam said quietly, staring at the interrogation table in front of him and obviously trying hard to hold back tears. He turned to look at the older man sitting beside him, his friend he had asked to bring, "I-I don't know if I can do this..."

Adam seemed like a very gentle boy. The fact that he felt he absolutely needed company for this suggested that he was either very attached to the victim, or very shy. Or both...

Probably both.

With this shoulder-length black hair and delicate appearance, he seemed to have a sort of feminine-like appearance to him. He did seem to be the emotionally sensitive type, the kind of person who would need emotional support at a time like this...and as much as possible. His body was quite slim and he wore black rimmed, rectangle-shaped glasses that framed his deep violet eyes. The boy also seemed to be a fan of the color black, as his clothing consisted of a black fleece hoodie, black jeans, and a pair of black boots.

"Adam, I know this has to be hard on you, but we do need to ask you some questions to help find out who did this."

Adam didn't respond, but he looked up at Beth after she had spoken to him, then at Sara next to her, then at Brass by the door, then back at Beth. He tried to look at each person in the eyes, but quickly looked away once he came close. Beth noticed that as he looked away from her the second time, he turned back to his friend and shook his head.

"Dischord...I-I just can't..."

Adam's friend also wore glasses, though his were much smaller frames, and oval shaped. He was bald, and Beth was having a hard time figuring out if it was natural, or shaved. Either way, the skin on his skull was perfectly smooth. He was dressed in casual clothes, a red, loose-fitting tee shirt and dark blue jeans with a pair of blue sneakers resting on his feet. He gave Adam a warm smile, and reached out to hold one of his hands and mouthed, "It's okay."

Beth and Sara exchanged knowing glances, neither of them saying anything for a few seconds. Then with a warm, gentle smile, Beth turned back to Adam.

"You know, I'm known to be a very sensitive person when it comes to my emotions." She told him, "I'm sure that if I were you, I would've wanted to bring along someone for emotional support, too." Here she paused, looked at Dischord, then said to Adam, "You're lucky to have found someone who loves you so much that he's willing to always be there for you, you know."

Adam gave the new CSI a rather surprised look, then smiled sadly while his eyes were getting ready to spill over with tears. "Yeah...I really don't know what I would do without him." He said quietly, then sighed heavily as Dischord muttered some soothing words to him. He then relaxed quite a bit and said. "Okay...I-I'm ready to answer your questions now."

Beth nodded, "Okay...we know that your sister was murdered around 8:00 the night she was found. Could you tell us where you were at this time?"

Adam thought about that a moment, "I spend pretty much all my time with Dischord. I'm not all that social and...he's the only one I really feel comfortable being around. I mean, besides my family...but I don't even socialize with them much either." He paused a moment to collect his thoughts. "That night though... I was out for a walk. I um...needed to clear my head of...certain things."

Beth noticed Dischord's eyes become heavy with concern.

"Around 8:00...I remember walking past that Karaoke bar, 'Sing!' "

"You're sure?"

Adam looked up at Beth, giving her an uncomfortable look. "Some drunks were yelling things like 'faggot' at me out the window. I kept looking at my watch to ignore them, and I remember it being a little past eight."

Beth nodded again. "Did you happen to run into your sister while you were on your walk?" She asked and Adam suddenly got nervous.

"Y-you think that _I _killed her, don't you?" He said in a panicked tone. "N-no, I never saw her on my walk! I was nowhere near wherever she was when she was killed, I swear!"

"Brass shook his head. "At this point we're trying to eliminate suspects. We don't point the finger until we find evidence that tells us who to suspect."

Adam calmed down a bit and nodded. "R-right, I'll do whatever it takes to help you find the killer. What do you need."

"Well, a swap of epithelial cells from your mouth would be a good start, and access to your home." Brass said. "However, we don't have a warrant for either thing, so..."

"You don't need them." Adam interrupted. "You can search through my house all you want...and anything else you need is all right with me."

Dischord nodded in agreement. "It's fine with me too." He said. "Anything to help clear Adam and find the real killer."

Beth found it to be a nice change of pace. Though his sister was hostile, at least _he _was being cooperative. The two of them sat back as Beth swabbed the inside of both men's mouths and stored them for DNA comparison for Greg before they headed out to Adam and Dischord's home. The inside of the house was quite neat and tidy. It was only a one-floor building, but still a considerably large one. There were two bedrooms, the master bedroom and a bedroom suited for a young girl, with bathrooms branching off of both rooms. A kitchen, a living room, all the usual rooms in a typical home could be found here, along with a music room with a drum set in a corner and a rather nice sound system.

Sara decided to start in the kitchen, and Beth took the master bedroom.

In the meantime, Adam, Dischord, and their young daughter Heather all waited outside.

The bedroom didn't really tell much, except Beth's ALS (alternate light source) did show that the two were an active couple.

She signed heavily and headed into the bathroom. Again nothing out of the ordinary. _ Maybe the boy's innocent... _she thought to herself and turned to leave.

As she headed out, she smacked her hand hard against the bathroom sink and winced as she dropped her evidence case.

The case hit the floor and opened.

Beth swore under her breath as her luminol, fingerprint dust, and box of rubber gloves fell out of the case and she quickly bent over to pick everything up, bumping into the light fixture as she did so.

So now it was dark.

With irritation, Beth stood up to turn the light back on, but froze when something caught her eye.

Near what looked like a small rust stain, there was a small glowing dot where the luminol had dripped onto the floor under the sink.

She carefully put everything but he luminol back in her case and looked at the dot carefully. That rust stain, she realized, wasn't rust at all...

It was blood.

A lot of blood, she realized after spraying the room. It seemed to have pooled on the floor, with small drips on the edge of the sink.

With wide eyes, she dashed out of the bathroom. "Sara!" She yelled, poking her head out into the hallway. "I found blood! A_lot _of it!"

Within seconds, Sara was in the bathroom staring at the large glowing mass of what was once blood on the tiled bathroom floor. "No matter how much they wash, it always comes back to haunt us." She said, the looked up at her partner. "Well, I have more good news for you."

Beth looked at Sara and nodded. "What did you find?"

"Actually, nothing. But Greg called me a few minutes ago with his lab results. Adam's DNA matches one of the hairs found on our vic."

Beth stared in disbelief. "You're kidding me! He said he never saw her that night!"

"He lied, apparently."

"Apparently." Beth said, kneeling down to take a sample of the dried blood on the floor. Still, there was this feeling in the pit of her stomach...she was really hoping Adam was innocent. "We need to get a DNA profile of this blood, see if it matches who I think it matches."

"Yeah well, I'm starting to wonder about that boy..."

"Mm...me too..."


	6. Chapter 6

I forgot to put in that pictures were taken when the blood was found in chapter 5. It's essential to take pictures of a crime scene for future reference and for use in court trials. Bah, anyway...suspicion is drawn upon Adam, but where did that blood really come from? Was it really Cherryl's?

--------------------------------

The two CSIs searched the rest of the house, taking a few pairs of Adam's shoes to match against the shoeprint found at the dumpsite, but didn't find much else that caught their attention. They left through the front door and nodded to the family.

"We're all set here," Sara explained, "But...we do need to discuss something with you two." She stopped and glanced at little Heather. "And I don't think it's something we should talk about in front of Heather."

The child looked up at the two criminalists, then at her fathers who nodded at her. With a wide, rather adorable smile, she quickly skipped back inside the house, humming a tune as she went.

"What is it you want to talk about?" Adam asked nervously as he watched his daughter disappear into the house. "Wh-what, did you find something?" He suddenly appeared nervous and avoided looking at the two directly.

"Well, actually..." Beth started, "We found a lot of blood in the master bathroom. We don't know who's it is just yet, but I can safely say it seems to have been enough to either kill or leave a person close to death."

Adam quickly glanced at Dischord a moment, then snapped his attention back to the two CSIs, his face a bit pale. "W-wait, you think that..." he quickly said with realization.

"No! I promise you, that blood is _not _my sister!"

"We'll see when the results come back from the lab." Beth said. "But for the moment, unfortunately, we have to consider you a major suspect."

"For what? For blood you haven't identified yet? I told you, it's not-"

"You also told us that you didn't see your sister at all that night, but a hair we found on your sister matches your DNA from the epithelial cells we swabbed earlier." Sara interrupted quickly. "You lied then, what's to say you're not doing it again?"

Adam's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide.

"Adam?"

The boy looked over at his lover, who stared at Adam with concern and confusion. "Look, lying to them isn't going to help clear you from the crime." He said, his eyes showed much unease.

Adam sighed heavily and nervously. "A-all right...yeah, I saw Cherryl that night. I accidentally bumped into her when I was on my walk. We talked for a little bit, then we went our separate ways."

"Was she with anyone?" Beth asked.

"Er...no...she uh...told me she was going to meet up with Cyndie." He told her, taking this time to stare at her feet.

The boy was a horrible Liar.

Or maybe he was just bad at covering his tracks.

Either way, suspicion was definitely not weakening in his favor.

"Well, we'll check back on you after we get the results back from the lab." Sara said with a small smile.

Dischord nodded, but Adam remained silent. "Sure. I think I should talk to Adam for a bit, anyway."

"There's nothing to talk about." The boy retorted and retreated quickly back inside the house. He left behind one hell of a confused lover, and two concerned criminalists.

Beth looked at Dischord. "What's your take on this? All that blood..."

Dischord shrugged and shook his head. "He's not the type to murder, _that _much I'm confident in. But that blood...I won't know until the results come back, will I?" His face showed growing worry. "But I'll admit...I have a bad feeling, and an equally bad theory..."

Beth nodded. "We'll call you when the results come in. Good news or bad news, you'll be the first to know."

"Hey, Sara?"

The CSI looked at her partner out of the corner of her eye from behind the steering wheel as the two drove back to headquarters.

"Yeah?"

Beth paused a moment in thought. "There was something...odd about that blood." She explained, turning her head to look out her window. "I mean, if he _did _shoot his sister, wouldn't the blood look more like a splatter? The blood we found..." She closed her eyes and her face twisted in thought. "...it was more like it was dripped from somewhere above the sink."

Sara thought about that a moment. "You know, you're right. That blood might actually be from another source. Do you think we might have another case on our hands?"

"I don't know...this while family is messed up! The sister's being hostile, the brother's got blood in his bathroom, and we don't know a damned thing about the husband!" Beth sighed with heavy annoyance and pushed her glasses to the bridge of her nose.

Sara shrugged and parked the car at CSI headquarters. "For now, the husband's not a suspect. There's not evidence linking him to the crime scene."

The two headed back to the DNA lab, where Greg and Emily were practicing their lip-wrestling.

Beth froze and winced at the sight, but Sara just rolled her eyes and knocked on the doorframe. "What ever happened to your tall blonde with beautiful DNA?" She asked Greg while Beth handed the blood sample to her sister, a grossed out look on her face.

Greg grinned at Sara. "She_is _tall compared to her sister..."

Beth scowled and glared at Greg.

"And she _does _have beautiful DNA."

"_And _I'm a _dirty _blonde." Emily said.

Beth shook her head. "Em, your hair's brown. _ Dark _brown. Nowhere near blonde."

Greg shrugged. "Tastes change when it comes to hair color. I don't need a blonde, I got someone much better."

Emily beamed.

"I'm going to be sick...Anyway, we need you tow to compare the DNA of that blood sample to our victim...or just find a match to it at least." Beth said. "And please, next time you feel the urge to make out, wait until your break or I'm telling Grissom..." She told her sister, and turned to head out of the lab, but was blocked.

Adam stood in the doorway, a nervous look on his face. Beth was curious as to why he wasn't with his boyfriend this time.

"Can I talk to you guys?" He asked in a low voice. "It's...uh...it's really important."

Beth glanced at her sister. "How long will those results take?"

"Few minutes."

Beth looked back at Adam. "Sure, Adam." She said with a smile and headed out into the hall with him. "Hey...why isn't Dischord with you?"

"I...kinda don't want him to hear what I have to say." Adam replied, looking away, the nervousness in his voice growing. "I don't want him freaking out.

Beth raised an eyebrow. "Adam, what exactly is this about?" She asked him, leaning against the wall behind her. "Is this about the blood?"

The boy nodded. "First things first, though, I just want you to know that it was _not _my sister's blood you found. I didn't kill _anyone_"

Beth nodded. "We'll let the evidence clear you, but honestly? I believe you. So you mind explaining the blood?"

"..."

"Your silence isn't very reassuring, kid..."

"I-I know...look, you need to understand that I...I would never..." He sighed heavily, "I'm sorry...this is something I've kept to myself for a long time."

"Adam..."

The boy started to rub his hands together. "You're going to find out eventually..." he said grabbing the edges of his sleeves.

Beth reached over and gently patted Adam on the shoulder. "If it's going to help clear you, wouldn't it be best to tell the truth?"

Adam quickly stared at the floor. "Y-yeah, I know...but I'm ashamed to admit that I have a problem.

"What kind of problem?"

Beth and Adam both looked over to see Dischord standing in the hall near them.

"Dischord?"

"What...what kind of problem?" The man asked again.

Adam's eye went a bit wide with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't find you at home, so I figured you must've come here."

The boy smiled a bit. "You really know me too well, Dischord." He said quietly.

"I don't know anything about this problem you have." He admitted. "You mind telling me about it?"

Adam's smile faded, then he sighed again. "A-all right...as long as it'll put my sister's case back on track." He said and as he began to roll back his sleeves, Beth's attention was drawn to Sara who walked out of the lab.

"He was telling the truth about the blood not being his sister's..." She said, handing Beth the results. "But wait until you find out where the blood _did _come from."

Beth's eyes widened after she read the results. "No...fucking...way..." She said and looked over at Adam. Dischord was also staring at the boy in shock.

"That time it wouldn't stop...it actually almost...killed me..." Adam said, showing everyone his wrists which were covered in scars.


End file.
